Wealth is obtainable?!?!?!?!

[jmd_forest]

This thread got my blood pumping for a Porsche again.  I just got off the phone regarding a 1980 911 SC on philly Craigslist for $7500 OBO with engine and transmission pulled, but included. According to the girl I spoke with it had just been sold. Guess I'll keep looking.

[fdjake]

That wasn't a $7500 Porsche.....It was a $17,500.00 Porsche after the sucker who bought it pays BIG $$$$ to have the engine and trans rebuilt.

Stay away from projects....They LOOK cheap, but aren't in the long run. and....you'll end up hating the car.

There's an old saying about restoring Porsches:

How do you make a SMALL FORTUNE restoring old Porsches???

Start with a LARGE ONE!!!

Unless your Uncle is a factory trained Porsche mechanic or you RESCUED ONE from a burning building .....Spend the money and buy a nice RUNNING car.

John-in-NC scored that white one for $13K and he's LOVING IT.....That $7500 deal is a nightmare waiting to happen....Missing parts, wrong parts, broken EXPENSIVE GERMAN THINGS=Lots of $$$$$$$

I think missing that car was good thing for you.....and remember, I'm just trying to prevent you from making the same costly mistakes I've seen others make over the years.

Keep looking....The HUNT is the FUN part!!!

Oh....One more thing.....DRIVE as many examples as you can, even of you don't intend to buy an over priced car...Getting a FEEL for how a nice example drives will make your search easier.

[jmd_forest]

fdjake,

Good advice for the general population, but I like to consider myself a "special case", or as my wife describes me "eccentric". Although not a factory trained mechanic, for the past 25 years I have ONLY owned project cars or salvage cars:  4 Porsche (1/924, 2/944, and 1/911), 6 BMW, 1 Jag XKE, 2 Nissan 300ZX, 2 Acura, 1 Lexus, 2 Mercedes, and a handful of other less distinguished marks. I either made money on it or ran it into the ground (usually 200K+ miles) after the rebuild. I've only regretted buying one car, a Toyota 4 Runner that had been rolled that I purchased at salvage about 15 years ago. At the time they were so popular just finding a salvage unit at a reasonable price was nearly impossible. It simply had too much damage. My wife drove it for about 7 years but the drivers door had an air whistle I just couldn't fix because the door frame had been slightly racked when I welded in a new roof.

I do almost all my own work and enjoy the craftsmanship of taking something broken and making it beautiful again. I've rebuilt Porsche 6 cylinder air cooled and 4 cylinder water cooled engines, straight 6 BMW engines,  as well as others. I've rebuilt a couple manual transmissions but leave automatics to the pros.  I do better work (welding, body, paint, mechanics, electrical, and electronics) than almost any "professional mechanic" I've worked with, it just takes me a whole lot longer because I'm always on a learning curve (especially with the level of electronics in new cars).

My general goal when purchasing cars is to have no more than 50 cents on the dollar into it when completed. I probably would not have paid $7500 for the SC (unless the body and interior were exceptional), I was hoping to get it at around $5K and put no more than $2500 more into it (about 57 cents on the dollar compared to John-in-NC's 911)

My current Acura (purchased as a salvage with 8K miles) has over 210K miles and is starting to really show its age and the abuse I heap on it.  I'm thinking about a Porsche again but also have to come to terms with the fact that I won't be using it to tow around my trailer full of tools and materials while rehabbing my next REI project. I guess I can always weld a hitch on the wife's Lexus.

[fdjake]

WOW....I'm impressed....My hat is off to you Sir!!!

You're right....You could've handled that project with your back ground!!!

Just do me a favor....

Be sure to POST PICTURES when you find your Porsche project!!! 

Someone with your talents can build something very impressive!

Hell....Now I'M looking forward to you finding a car too!!!

[jmd_forest]

In one of my earlier posts I linked to photobucket pictures from the 944 father/son project I had mentioned. These pictures were immediately after reassembly from the paint job I had completed the day before, the car had not even been detailed yet. Unfortunately, no "before" pictures.  In the 1st picture you can see my air compressor peeking out of the corner of my garage and the garage floor is still red with paint dust. The driveway is still coated with gray dust from wet sanding the primer earlier in the week. The interior picture still has the old cracked dash but you can see our reupholstered seats (not seat covers but factory style reupholstery). Aside from the rear driver side corner and quarter panel  being crumpled up and the paint peeling all over, the body had been in pretty good shape when purchased but the mechanicals suffered from 20 years of neglect. Over the winter we had pulled the engine, replaced the clutch, rebuilt the brake system, replaced much of the ignition system, replaced all vacuum lines, rebuilt the oil cooling system, replaced every electronic engine sensor, cleaned the fuel injector system, rebuilt the aux air flow, installed a new stereo and speakers, replaced all shocks and struts, replaced the timing and balance belts, rebuilt the CV joints, fixed the shifter "slop", installed a new roof liner and valence, eliminated 5 or 10 electrical gremlins with the sunroof, electric windows, and electric antenna, and addressed another dozen or so problems common to 944s.

I originally started rebuilding cars in my teens when I wanted cars I couldn't afford. Now I can afford any car I might want but I can't see the logic in paying $30K - $50K for a car when I can get a salvage unit at half price or less with some time and effort that might otherwise be spent drinking beer. 

It's the same basic principal I use in REI: buy other people's problems at rock bottom prices, fix them using sweat equity and capitol, and retail (or mostly rent) at market value.  I just wish I could find more RE deals in my area that are worth buying.

[fdjake]

HOLY MACKEREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Forget the PICTURES......I'm sending you some CARS!!!!!!

Seriously,  That's impressive.